My sermons and reflections. Called to Ascension Lutheran Church in Shelby, NC, I am a first call pastor at this ELCA congregation. Posts before June 2014 are reflections on life during my theological education and internship (2008-2013).

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Day of Pentecost

Today we’re celebrating
Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, and we are
reaching back through the ancestry of
our faith to build upon a tradition of God’s spirit being sent among God’s
people.

Throughout Scripture, in both
old and new testaments,

the Spirit of God has been
making its presence known

and equipping us to do the
work that God wants us to do.

In Numbers, there’s a story
of God sharing the gift of the spirit with seventy others who would help Moses
lead Israel in the wilderness of their life together;

And the setting for today’s
Gospel — the Jewish Festival of Booths — that celebrated God giving the law to
Moses at Mount Sinai recalls an event that defined God’s covenant relationship
with the people of Israel.

And finally, in Acts, we get
the story of Pentecost when the spirit visibly
comes in tongues of flame as a sign that different groups of people have
received God’s Spirit,

that the Spirit has broken into
the lives of a community.

These different stories show
us God speaking through many different voices and kinds of people, and giving
us a new common or shared language – the language of faith.

Learning a new language works
best by immersion, when you are surrounded by other people who are learning
alongside you, and you can turn to others who are have been speaking it longer
than you. Instead of studying phrases and vocabulary from a book or listening
to a recording, you hear the words in their context and you can pick up on all
the other clues that help the new language make sense.

You will trip over new sounds
and foreign words, and it may feel just as awkward as rowdy experiences of the Spirit, with raised hands and voices, or
thunderous noise from clapping or shouting, might feel in many of our Lutheran
worship settings, but immersion helps you soak up the new language, like new wine, so that it becomes part
of your identity.

It sounds a lot like the past
three years of faith formation with Landon and Devyn and Rainey who will be
confirmed later this morning in worship.

We
began by learning together the big-picture ark of God’s story in the Bible that
shows us how we are created for relationship with a loving God and given
responsibility to live out of the grace that we have been given.

We
spent time reading Luther’s Small Catechism and the language he gives us to
better understand God’s commandments and the profession of faith that we make
in the apostle’s creed.

We
practiced praying for each other even as we learned more about the prayer that
Jesus gives us in scripture.

And
we tackled hard questions that we face when faith and life intersect; questions
like “Why do bad things happen?” and “Is it ok to be mad at God?”; questions
that come up when our world is scarred by brokenness and doesn’t measure up to
the promises we hear from God.

We
didn’t find all the answers. In fact, I would bet we found more
questions, but we also discovered that God is big enough for our questions and,
even, for our anger and our sadness.

We
discovered that living a Christian life is about learning how to live in
relationship with a loving God, where you talk to God and listen to God, and
where you show up just like you would to build any new friendship.

In the story of Pentecost we
hear a babel of voices,

but unlike the story in
Genesis, on this day, by the power of the Holy Spirit in their midst,
everyone understands each other.

When we celebrate Landon,
Devyn and Rainey affirming the promises made on their behalf at their baptisms,
we will also be celebrating that Godbrings us together in our differences,
and, by God’s Spirit, unites us and helps us find understanding together.

Today, even as our joy is
tempered by loss, we rejoice that the Spiritishere, moving among
us, reshaping and redefining who we are as we are joined together be
God’s people in the world.

The story of Pentecost
reminds us that we do not live in faith only for ourselves but for the sake
of the world. God promises that the Spirit gives us just what each of us
needs to go out and take the Good News of God’s love and mercy and forgiveness
to our neighbors, and to show the world who Jesus is in our words and actions.

Like the acts of the Spirit
we heard in the story of Pentecost, and like learning a new language, learning
to live filled with God’s Spirit can be messy and hard and even awkward.

But it is also really very
beautiful as you see the Spirit working right here in our corner of the
world, as we come to understand that we are brought together intentionally by
God,

and who we are is who we are by
the work of the Spirit and not by any effort or merit of our own.

Let us pray.

Holy God,

Pour out Your Spirit upon us
and renew us for the work you want us to do. Help us discern the gifts you have
given each of us.

Kindle the fire of Your
Spirit in us that we would share your Good News with our neighbors with joy.

Continue the good work you
have begun in us and strengthen our community, for the sake of the world.